Assigm



(No Model.)

0. J. BROSNAN.

. TACK FEEDING DEVICE. No. 329,268. Patented 001;. 2'7, 1885.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR M M b BY /M V ATTORNEY N, PETERS. Phol Ulhognpfiun Waihinginn. D.C.

lUNrrmi Snares Parana @rricn.

CORNELIUS J. BROSNAN, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF TWVO-THIBDS TO W. E. WRIGHT AND II. A. GIBBS, OF SAME PLACE.

TACK FEEDlNG' DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,268, dated October 27, 18185. Application filed July 20, 18 85. Serial No. 172,032. (N model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CORNELIUS J BROSNAN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampdenand State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tack-Feeding Devices for Nailing and other Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in tack-feeding devices for nailing and other machines, the object being to provide an improved tack feeder and reservoir combined, whereby headed tacks and nails are separated from a mass and delivered into a suitable chute I 5 or conduit, which conveys them to suitable devices for use in securing buttons to shoes or for nailing the latter, or for other purposes.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a perspective view of a taclcfeeding device embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line as m, Fig. l, and including a side View of the supporting-bar and means for rotating the reservoir. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section of a portion of the reservoir and its supportingring, showing the position of a tack about to enter the chute and the end of the tack-guiding finger.

In the drawings, E indicates a bar having 0 an arm, w, (a part of which is shown in Fig.

2,) by which arm the said bar is suitably secured in a fixed position on or near any machine which is to be served by the within-described tack-feeding devices. Bar E is of suitable metallic construction, and in it are provided suitable bearings for the shaft 0, on which is fixed a ratchet-wheel, s. A lever, 3 having a bifureated'end, is hung loosely on said shaft astride of the ratchet wheel, and'is provided with a suitable pawl (not shown in the drawings) to engage with said wheel. The lever y is given a vibratory motion by suitable connection with the machine with which the feeding device may be connected, whereby the shaft 0 and the tack-reservoir, which is connected to the latter, are givenan intermittent rotary motion. On the bar E is secured the ring A, in the upper face of which are formed two annular grooves-an upper one 50 (lettered '0) and a lower one, in which the edge of the bottom at of the reservoir rotates, so as to bring theinner side of said bottom in a plane with the face of the groove 1), in order that any tacks which may pass from the reservoir, as hereinafter described, may unobstructedly slide from the latter partially into the groove 12 outside of the reservoir, and subsequently entirely from the latter and said groove into a chute, as hereinafter set forth. The bottom of the reservoir is of disk form, and its diame- 6o ter corresponds,substantially,with that of the reservoir B. A short central hub on its under side gives it a proper bearing on which to rotate on bar E, and from its upper face there projects upward a hollow hub, n, whose upper end is screw-threaded, as shown. The bottom at is connected with the shaft 0 by the usual spline and key or keys, or in any other suitable manner whereby they are made to rotate together said bottom and the hereinafter-described cup-shaped top constituting the reservoir. The top of the reservoir B is in the form ofan inverted cup, and is secured on shaft 0 by a key and spline, as shown, and is connected with the hub a on the bottom at by a screw-threaded boss, 2, which screws onto the end of said hub. By said means of connecting the bottom to the top of the reservoir the edge of the side thereof is brought close against the bottom and adequately secured for proper operation. The reservoir has a suitable opening in its top, through which tacks or nails are introduced, and in its side is formed a series of slots, a, standing at right angles to it's plane of rotation, whose lower ends terminate over the bottom m, and

are at the latter point enlarged, giving them the form of an inverted T or of a tack standing on its head. Just above the lower edge of the reservoir a groove, 6, is formed, into 0 which the end of afinger, D, extends, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. Said finger is secured in a fixed position on any convenient part of the machine. At an opening in the raised border of the groove 41 is secured a chute or trough, 9 5 h, which is of proper form to receive the heads of tacks therein, their bodies projecting upward through the slot in its upper side.

The operation of the above-described improvements in providing a line of tacks in Ice the chute h, for use on any machine to which they may be conveyed thereby, is as follows: Therservoir, having been supplied with tacks d, Fig. 3, is given an intermittent rotary motion, as aforesaid, whereby the mass of tacks therein is made to roll against the side of the reservoir, (the latter being set at an incline, as shown in Fig. 1,) and such of the tacks as incidentally stand on a line with the slots a fall into the latter and slide through the side of the reservoir, taking the position of the tack d, Fig. 3. The width ofthe groove 12 is less than the diameter of the head of the tack, and therefore the head cannot slide out of the lower end of the slot a, but is so engaged in the latter that the tack is carried around with the reservoir until it encounters the end of the finger D, which so penetrates the groove 6 that the tack is brought against its inclined end, and is thereby guided into thechute h, as aforesaid. The aforesaid intermittent rotary motion which is given to the reservoir serves to throw the tacks therein more or less upward away from the lower side of the latter, causing them to slide and tumble back again against the slotted side of the reservoir, and consequently more or less tacks constantly find their way through the slots a, and are made to follow the grooveotoward the chute, keeping the latter continually supplied therewith.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In tack-feeding devices, a rotating tackreservoir of cylindrical form, having slots or openings of inverted-T form in the side thereof for the exit of the tacks, said slots extending at right angles to the plane of the rotation of the reservoir, combined with a fixed ring surrounding the lower edge of the latter, within which the reservoir rotates, having the groove 1) beyond the side of the latter, a chute leading from said groove, a fixed finger outside of the reservoir to guide the tacks into said chute, and means, substantially as described, for imparting a rotary motion to the reservoir,- substantially as set forth.

2. In combination, the reservoir having the series of inverted-T-shaped slots through its side and the groove 6 therein, the shaft 0, attached to the reservoir, the ring A, having the grower beyond the side of the latter and a chute leading therefrom, and the finger D, penetrating said groove 6, and means, substantially as described, for imparting an intermittent rotary motion to the reservoir, substantially as set forth.

CORNELIUS J. BROSNAN.

Witnesses:

H; A. OHAPIN, W. F. RICE. 

